Long power shock breather in sight

Work in progress to repair an underground cable near Gardanibagh on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Residents of large parts of the city’s western and some central localities, coping with sauna-like heat and frequent power cuts, could expect some relief by the wekend.

The problem of power cuts, triggered by technical snags in the two 33KV underground cables, the first near Gardanibagh road number one and another near Eco Park, could come to an end as the cable-joining work was nearing completion on Friday evening. Both cables were damaged on Wednesday, disrupting power supply to the 33KV BSEB, high court and Khagaul I feeders, which together supply power to large parts of western and some parts of central Patna. Another fault was detected in the 33KV underground cable near the same place on Friday.

Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Ltd deputy general manager (public relations) H.R. Pandey said: “The cable fault near Eco Park was repaired on Thursday morning itself, but we are finding it difficult to repair the fault near Gardanibagh road number one, as the cable is laid under eight feet of water. We expect that cable fault to be rectified by late on Friday evening.” The distribution company was supplying power to affected areas on rotational basis from alternate sources, Pandey said. An official with South Bihar Power Distribution Company said the fault near Gardanibagh was unlikely to be repaired before Saturday evening. Sources said a man repairing the fault received an electric shock and left work midway. Engineers, whose first priority is to flush out water from the place where the fault is located, had a difficult time convincing workers that there was electric current in the water. “My law examinations are on. You can imagine my plight. I am writing the papers without proper sleep for past two nights,” said Khushbu.

“The severe power cuts have made life difficult. Neither could we sleep at night nor could we pump up water,” said Vivek Kumar, a resident of Rajiv Nagar.